Unionized Wal-Mart Store Closing

[robcon]

Wal-Mart sends a signal that they will not tolerate unions.

Wal-Mart Leaves Bitter Chill
Quebec Store Closes After Vote to Unionize

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, April 14, 2005; Page E01

JONQUIERE, Quebec -- "The baby buggies are all gone. In electronics, only "Le Gros Albert" and a few other leftover DVDs remain. A few pairs of pink boots are left in the shoe department. Over in household goods, red and yellow liquidation tags dangle beside thin skillets as Wal-Mart prepares to close.

The retailing behemoth, whose $10 billion annual profits are based on low prices, low expenses and its relentless pace of store openings, announced it will shut the doors here May 6 after workers voted to make this the first unionized Wal-Mart in North America.

Rejan Lavoie is among those who blame union efforts for the store's closing. The single father says he worries he won't find another job with workable hours.

The closure will leave 190 bitter employees out of work, the town uneasy over the future of unions, and the mayor angry at the company. Supporters of organized labor also say it serves as a warning for workers at other Wal-Mart stores who might contemplate defying founder Sam Walton's sharp distaste for unions.

"It's like we are digging our own grave," said store employee Nathalie Dubois, 38, a single mother with no other job to go to, as she helped pack up the store.

The world's largest retail chain has fiercely and successfully resisted unionization attempts at its 3,600 stores in the United States. Its closest call ended in Texas in 2000 when the store eliminated its meat department after 11 meat cutters voted to join a union. United Food and Commercial Workers is mounting a fresh campaign to organize Wal-Mart workers in the United States, a push it says has been given impetus by recent legal action and a former company vice president's contention that he surreptitiously organized anti-union
activities..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51521-2005Apr13.html?referrer=email

[LostinVA]

1. Seems like quite a few are all blaming the Union instead of Wal-Mart

Cutting off their noses to spite their faces, eh? It's like blaming the victim. <sigh>

[JHB]

31. Does that selection reflect the workers' views, or the WAPO's, I wonder?

n/t

[shoelace414]

2. When is this going to end?

Congress has to step in to prevent the peons from organizing against the poor powerless store owners.

[BR_Parkway]

6. Be even better to leave them to their tactics - simply work on organizing

the worker's into voting for a Union - then Wal-Mart can close/leave and let our communities get back to something that IS good for the local economy - local people doing local jobs paying local taxes and spending local profits.

[rpannier]

3. The Truth is so clear

Wal-mart is so blatantly anti-Union. I can't figure out why more people can't see that. If they close the one near where I live, I won't complain.

[Mr_Spock]

4. Walmart is such a vile outfit - I wish I could do more than just boycott

This is such a despicable bunch of profiteers - I can't say how much I am beginning to hate these people. They are in our communities making money - why do they want to be hated?

[BR_Parkway]

5. No jobs? Why do they assume that everyone will magically stop

shopping if they can't buy shit at Wal-Mart? There will be stores to take it's place, similar to the one's that were there before they moved in. Locally owned stores, money being re-circulated into the community.

We had a simliar argument when Wal-Mart here wanted another zoning variance to expand into a SuperWal-Mart. They had all these pretty charts and graphs to impress the City Council with all the new sales tax dollars that would be flowing in if they got the approval.

The audience cheered when one of the Council members spoke up and asked if WalMart really thought the City was so stupid to buy that, to beleive that local people were NOT buying groceries currently and would only start if the store was allowed to expand? He said quite simply enough for the other Regressive council members to follow along "These people already buy groceries, we already get the sales tax - what you're really asking us to approve is that we'll stop getting the tax money from Store A and get it from you instead. I'm insulted that you would put on such a false presentation to get your way, and it's made me completely distrust everything else that you've had to say tonite. I'll be voting NO and hope that my fellow council members distrust your tactics and motives now as much as I do." (my recall of the quote)

More cheering from the crowd, final vote 7 NO's, 0 YES's - the Nay's carry!

[mattclearing]

7. Good. Maybe now all of them will unionize, and the Waltons can

close up shop for good.

[FormerDittoHead]

8. Seriously. Isn't this a good thing?

I mean, the demand has to go somewhere, and we've all agreed that the prices at Walmart, by importing Chinese goods, are artifically low (and by implication, people should be willing to pay more for their goods).

So, doesn't this provide an opportunity for LOCAL businesses to fill the void? In the end, all the money that was going to the Walton family will be staying in town, and I can't help but see that as a good thing.

I AM sorry for the short term (2 years?) for the time those local businesses will have to raise financing, get zoning permission, etc before they can start hiring people and selling things, but Walmart never comes to a town overnight (here in Deptford, South Jersey, it's been YEARS)...

ALTERNATIVE:

How about a "Dead Walmart Commune". HUH? I mean taking over the store space already there and renting out all their departments much like Kmart does with its sporting goods and many supermarkets do with assigned shelving space....

[SillyGoose]

9. Why are these people blaming the union?

Can't they see how anti-union Wal-Mart is? If I were one of these people I would be hacked off at Wal-Mart not at the concept of unionization! Geesh.

Hopefully, though, with the closure, other small businesses in the area will flourish without Wal-Mart knocking them out of competition.

[AG78]

10. Who drove Wal-Mart and the jobs away?

That's why they blame the union. I don't agree with it, but that's why they do it.

And if the small businesses don't flourish? Wal-Mart won't hold a grudge. They'll welcome their new slaves with open arms.

Wal-Mart will win before they lose. They're a global corporation that doesn't have to stay where they won't make the most money. Labor is losing, and will continue to lose, as long as global corporations don't have to play within those arbitrary lines drawn on maps a long time ago.

[Toots]

12. BS. The union did not drive walmart away

It's Walmart's Greed, that is what drove it away and the community will be better served once it's gone. The Ma and Pa stores will re-open with higher wages for employees and we won't be sinking america through it's trade deficit by buying local instead of Cheap Chinese crap.

[AG78]

20. I know it's Wal-Mart's greed

And in this world, Wal-Mart's greed is all that counts. It's just my guess as to why there are people blaming the union. Again, I don't agree with the people blaming the union.

It would be nice if those Ma and Pa stores were the rule. But that's not where the world is right now. Maybe some day in the future, but economic globalization is a strong and harsh force. It will make us break before it bends.

[raccoon]

15. I don't know why they think that way,

but a lot of people in my state--a so-called "right-to-work" state--think the same thing: that Unions are EVIL.

You'd think they'd realize that if the fat cats are so against something, it must be good for the rank and file workers.

[Chef]

11. Great Wal (of China) Mart

We are our own worst enemies. We don't want to pay anything for our goods and complain when our jobs are shipped overseas, leaving us with republican wages from retail. In a way, even though I don't like Sprawl-Mart, They are quite something. I rural areas, where their isn't a lot of shopping or job opportunities and people have to drive a long way to get their stuff, Wal-Mar is looked upon as quite the place. The ugly part comes when they compete with other established shopping and bust unions that have fought for living wages. Their profits have recently gone down which might be a sign that they have jumped the shark or, maybe enough people have begun to put two-and-two together and realize that this form of slave capitalism is not good in the long run.

[lonestarnot]

14. Do you mind if I refer to them as Great Wal of China Mart from now on?

[Chef]

17. Great Wal (of China) Mart

Please do. I am pleased that you find it as humorus as I do. Just think what will happen when the Chinese begin making cars that are well made. The American public will be unable to resist a Hummer H2 for $15,000 and then what will we do?

[Geekscum]

18. I prefer the Great Walmart of China

I prefer the Great Walmart of China, but ti each his own.

[lonestarnot]

28. The other one just has a ring to it...

[lonestarnot]

27. Tank ye berry much!

[Jack Rabbit]

13. Our goal should be to unionize all WalMart stores

We see that they hate unions, but let's see if they'll go out of business to stop them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. With all its billions, the Walton family could survive

for several generations without anyone ever working.

They're just nasty and greedy enough to shut down if their stores get unionized.

In that case, it might be worthwhile for the unions to buy the stores and reopen them as co-ops.

[Jack Rabbit]

25. Excellent idea

We have a food co-op in our community. I usually shop there.

I WalMart went out of business, it would only be a loss to the leisure class.

[Kolesar]

16. Rent the building to Target

Or, as I think they would pronounce it, Tar-zhey'

[TransitJohn]

19. Sweet Jesu....

Does no one reflect on the struggles that LABOR went through to ensure a reasonable work week, a living wage, no child labor, etc., etc.? I'll bet not one in 10 Americans consciously realizes that a federal holiday, LABOR DAY, is an appeasement given to the blue collar men and women who literally built this staggering economy on their backs....it's not like corporations want to give a paid holiday to their serfs.

[AG78]

22. Reflect?

There's a game on tonight. Shut up commie.

And when were those struggles? 80 years ago. Our founding fathers fought for our freedoms we enjoy today. Go back to where you came from.

[Iterate]

21. Plus a blatant misrepresentation in the article headline

They bailed out of the town because the local economy wouldn't support it. Reading between the lines, WM overbuilt in an area that wouldn't support three stores.

"But it became moot in February, when Wal-Mart announced it would close the store. Company officials said it was losing money, and the demands of the union would have made it even less tenable."

plus
"Jonquiere residents chose sides. Immediately after the store announced it was closing, business plummeted in an unofficial boycott of Wal-Mart." Then came the union vote.

This story certainly can be read as a threat from Wal-Mart to other unionizing efforts, but it's also an object lesson for towns considering approval of new sites. The minute a store looses maximum profitability, they're gone and the town can be stuck with the property, unemployment, and loss of its tax base.

I wonder how much this town invested in infrastructure improvements just to get them to locate there.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. What WalMart did there is called a "capital strike"

Unscrupulous companies faced with meeting workers' reasonable demands will sometimes shut down or move rather than cut into their massive profits.

Labor strikes are harder than ever; capital strikes are easier than ever in the current climate of globalization.

[rniel]

26. I don't see

Why this won't help the town anyway. No town should even have a WalMart. Maybe consumers ought to support their own local businesses.

[Lauri16]

29. It's too bad that some of the employees are blaming the union

for this. I'm a UFCW member, we get info on the wallyworld closing & all their other bullshit tactics all the time.

The employees need to organize on a larger scale. It's nothing, as we see in Quebec, for wallyworld to close one store, but closing stores nationwide would be another story. The employees are scared, though, so getting them to fall in together on a large scale would be extremely hard if not impossible.

There will never be enough people boycotting them to hurt them. The economy makes shopping there a necessity for millions of people. I feel for the employees, but at the same time, they need to suck it up and get things going on a massive scale or they're never going to get anywhere.

[Ron Green]

37. I disagree that the economy makes shopping there a necessity for anyone.

I think that even people of extremely modest means can afford to shop at locally-owned businesses, if they're thoughtful about their needs vs. wants and careful with their purchases.

The proliferation of Wal*Mart stores has been driven primarily, in my opinion, by the simple need to shop and acquire crap, not by families' economic realities. Unfortunately, many people are NOT very thoughtful about their needs vs. wants, and Sam Walton figured out early on that price-driven big stores in rural areas would hook people into a shopping experience of consumption rather than service, education and human interaction, which is the ideal experience in a locally-owned store.

[MsTryska]

30. they will be better off without it....

but it irks me they're blaming everyone but the damn wal-mart for screwign them.

[earth mom]

32. Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish!

Walmart is a scum sucking slug and these people are well rid of them because Unions are needed! And they are ALL this country has left now to fight for the workers! My DH has worked in 3 different unions in the last 10 years and 2 out of the 3 were excellent. The job prior to the job he has now had a horrific union that allowed wages to be frozen for 3 fricken years! And my DH was making working poor wages to begin with! Even so, I shudder to think what he would have been paid by his employer without that union! And now...I thank the universe every day that he got the union job he has now! However, when I hear workers putting unions down I am shocked, considering how screwed over the majority of workers are these days because of the LACK of unions! It blows my mind!

I was in Walmart (one of the rare times I shop there these days) a month or two ago and I was talking to one of the employees and she told me that if any one comes in and even mentions the word "UNION" they are to tell management immediately! :wtf:

That has to be totally ILLEGAL! How can they try to control their employees to that degree?! :grr:

:rant:

Whew...I feel better now!

[Tyler Durden]

33. FUCK Walmart and anyone who shops there...

...I used to joke about quitting my lousy job to be a greeter at Walmart...

I'd rather wipe the shit off someone's ass.

[BlueCollar]

34. CostCo

should offer to take the lease and move in. Then they should offer the jobs to all the laid off workers.

[Zorra]

35. That's it. I've been boycotting them for years, but now I am going on an

active campaign to get others to boycott them.

[SoCalDem]

36. Gee..what a surprise....NOT..

How dare those people ask for living wages:sarcasm: